I have two laptops running wireless with a Linksys G. The Sony can be used anywhere in the house - no problems. The HP can only be
used downstairs where the G is, and has low signal even there, and sometimes needs to be restarted. I've tried switching cards to
make sure that wasn't the problem, but get the same results. Why would one laptop always work fine anywhere, while the other one is
so picky? Anything I can try?

Two questions. Is the Sony connecting on 802.11b and does the HP have a PC
Card set to G only mode? Also, what are the models?

Hi, thanks for the help. The router model number is WRT54G. The Sony Vaio laptop
model is a PCG-FXA36. The HP laptop model is pavilion ze4600. If you could tell me
how to check to see if the PC card is set to G?

Do you have a PC card? What model is it?

usually, it's just: double-click the driver icon in the taskbar, look for a
settig that says G only turbo mode. Without turbo mode, you're screwed.

Oops, confusing my threads. Your router does not do Super-G mode, so no
turbo, but you can still set it for G only, I just need to know which card
you have.

If you do not use cards, then you are at the mercy of the laptop. The
case/antenna in one laptop may allow better reception than the next. But,
despite some non-believers around here, I always think a PC Card is a better
option if you can afford one because you can control exactly which driver
you use and get better reception connecting to your specific router.

Show quote Hide quote Hi JB. Yes, I am using Linksys cards in both computers. I even switched
them to make sure it wasn't a bad card. Same results. Sony fine everywhere.
HP sucks. LOL! Anything else I can try?

Okay, so you checked the driver and both are in G only mode, right? How
about these for both:

Do you have SP2?
Latest driver?
Internal wireless disabled?
Security disabled? (just for testing)
Removed any software that could cause a conflict on the HP?


Remind me again what the processor is on both machines?

checked the drivers, but don't see how to tell if the are in G mode
Yes on both
Yes
neither have it
yes
none
Sony - AMD Athlon 500mhz 256mb

HP - Mobile AMP Athlon xp2 2500+519mhz 192mb

Keep chekcing the driver for the G only mode. Also, check your router for a
G only mode. There oculd be something in that HP case that is causing
interference -- I know certain PowerBook models couldn't connect for more
than about 50 feet because of the metal case. Can you tell what the HP is
made of?

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 10:18:58 -0600, "JB"
<jbrandonbbrem***@hotmail.com> wrote:

The client radio follows whatever protocol is offered by the
unspecified central access point or wireless router.  The client radio
drivers I've tinkered with don't allow much control over the radio.
If you're going to find a G-only mode setting, it will be in the
unspecified access point.

Permit me to offer an alternative test.  Drag the unspecified HP model
laptop to the nearest wireless hot spot or friends house and take both
the access point and environment out of the picture.  Now, try a
performance benchmark test.  If it works well, it's either the access
point settings, possible chip incompatibility, or localized
interference from other nearby systems to which the HP is apparently
more sensitive. 

If it also runs badly at the hot spot, then there's something amis in
the HP only.  My guess is a driver issue.  I've seen an oddity several
times that I don't understand.  I take a perfectly good working laptop
or PCI card radio, and upgrade the manufacturers supplied drivers.
The range, sensitivity, and performance drops dramatically with the
upgrade.  I tinker, tweak, tune, hack, swear, and nothing helps until
I downgrade the driver.  It just got with a DWL-520 card going from
2.0 to 2.1 drivers.  Therefore, if all else fails, try a previous
driver revision, or drivers from the chip manufactories web pile (i.e.
Intel, Realtek, Atmel) instead of those supplied by HP.

One other thing to check is how busy is the system when moving files.
Start the task manager and check the CPU and memory usage graphs while
copying large files over the wireless.  The numbers vary wildly with
model, drivers, card type, and laptop RAM, but it should NOT be
totally maxed out.  Compare it with the working Sony for a sanity
check.

I dunno about the metal shield theory.  Most of the mini-PCI based
radios expect the laptop to have an antenna in the LCD display section
with a coax with a flimsy u-FL connector dribbling down to the
mini-PCI card.  The loss in the coax is substantial but it does
elevate the antenna as high as possible and gets it away from the
noisy CPU section.

What's inside an HP laptop?
  http://www.LearnByDestroying.com/pics/HP-laptop/slides/Inside02.html

Yeah, most do nowadays.
Show quoteHide quoteMaybe I'm missig somehting here, but doesn't the Sony's good range and
throughput reveal that the issue is with the HP, ot the access point? I
mean, if the access point was the problem, neither laptop would work that
well.

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:29:33 -0600, "JB"
<jbrandonbbrem***@hotmail.com> wrote:

Yep, but I wanna be sure.  There is always the possibility that
something unique about the combination of the unspecified wireless
access point and the unspecified HP model laptop is causing the
problem.  I wanna take the access point out of the picture by testing
the HP laptop with a different access point.  If it works great at a
hot spot, then it's the combination of AP and client
radio/firmware/driver/whatever that's causing the problem.  If it also
sucks at a hot spot, then it's totally in the HP laptop.

One test I forgot to mention is to just plug the HP into the wired
ethernet part of the unspecified wireless router.  That will eliminate
the wireless part of the puzzle.  If it works at a reasonable speed
directly connected, it's the wireless.  If performance still is bad
with a wired connection, then there's something wrong with the
hardware, operating system, spyware, worms, viruses, etc.

Incidentally, I had a customer drop in with a laptop (Dell 5160) that
was running really slow on just the wireless.  Everything else was
quite fast according to the owner.  Well, the laptop only had
128Mbytes of RAM with XP SP2 and they thought a 5 minutes boot was
normal.  Sigh.  Adding RAM improved the speed overall.  It might be
that the unspecified laptop is simply underpowered or something
equally obvious.

Also, I worked on a Micron something laptop (PIII-733) that was
running kinda slower than I would expect.  Eventually, I found that
the hard disk was spending most of its time correcting errors which
was causing a serious slowdown.  I managed to image and replace the
hard disk just before the old hard disk died.  Anyway, lots of things
can cause slow performance.  This is why I like to know hardware
details before applying my astute guesswork.

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteHmmm, I was wondering if maybe the HP notebook, which sounds fairly
recent, might have Bluetooth installed?  I know the BT radio signal is
much weaker than WiFi but it still can't be good to have competing
radios in close proximity fighting for the same portions of spectrum.

Show quote Hide quote Okay, I don't have anywhere else to go try it - we live very rural. I downloaded the
latest driver in the HP, and no difference. There is no internal or Bluetooth. I also turned
off all circuits in the house except the modem and router to see if it was something interfering.
Still no diff. I think I'll have to call a guru to come out to check things out.

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